Për më shumë informata:
Mapping of Open
Government Policies
in South East Europe
Country:Republic of Kosovo
Contents
I. OPEN GOVERNMENT
a.Actions and Interventions
b.Legal and administrative institutions
c.Incorporation of multi-ethnic considerations into action plans
d.Stakeholder analysis
1. IMPROVED PUBLIC SERVICES
Transparency
Accountability
Technology and innovation
Table 1. Improvement of public services: Table of Threats and Opportunities
2. ENHANCED PUBLIC INTEGRITY
Transparency
Public Participation
Accountability
Technology and innovation
Table 2. Enhanced Public Integrity. Table of Threats and Opportunities
3. EFFECTIVE PUBLIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Transparency
Public Participation
Accountability
Technology and Innovation
Table 3. Effective Public Resource Management. Threats and Opportunities
4. SAFE COMMUNITIES
Transparency
Public Participation
Accountability
Technology and innovation
Table 4. Safe Communities. Threats and Opportunities
5. ENHANCED CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY
Transparency
Public Participation
Accountability
Technology and innovation
Table 5. Enhance Corporate Governance. Threats and Opportunities
II. SURVEY ON TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT OPENNESS
Methodology and General Information
POLLING RESULTS
Level of confidence and trust in the state and public institutions
Transparency
Public Participation
Accountability
Use of Technology
III. CONCLUSION
IV. SOURCES / REFERENCES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Mapping of Government Policies aims to identify actual policies related to government openness and their practical implementation by the Government and other relevant institutions.Open data approach is a necessary tool for future membership of Kosovo in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative. OGP Initiative enables governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies for strengthening the governance. For the membership in OGP Initiative, it is necessary that Kosovo Government embraces high-level Open Government Approach which needs to be stated in a Letter of Intent or an Open Government Declaration. Further, it needs to deliver a country action plan and commit to independent reporting in order to follow progress on the initially committed actions.
Kosovo Government has recently undertakenan initiative to start the process of joining OGP Initiative. Government has decided to authorize Ministry of European Integration to create working group, which will be co-managed by a representative of the FOL movement (Non Governmental organization dealing with research and advocacy on transparency related issues in Kosovo).The decision also calls for the inclusion of the members of Economic Chambers and Civil Society Organizations. As one of the first steps towards becoming member of the OGP, on 19 of July,in the Letter of Intent sent to OGP Secretariat, Minister of European Integration has stated the interest of the Government of Republic of Kosovo to join the OGP Initiative.
In terms of criteria that Kosovo needs to fulfil for its membership to OGP, Kosovo has recently been included in the assessment of eligibility criteria’s by the OGP support team, but it has only been assessed on Access to Information criteria (availability of law on freedom of information) but not on other three criteria such as: Fiscal Transparency (publication of the executive’s budget proposal and the audit report), Disclosures Related to Elected or Senior Public Officials (public disclosure of income and assets for elected and senior public officials) and Citizens Engagement (openness to citizen participation and engagement in policymaking and governance). Our findings indicate that Kosovo is eligible for the OGP membership.
In terms of general policies, Kosovo Constitution does embrace open government standards, and relevant laws which are crucial to OGP initiative are in place. Kosovo Government is implementing an e-governance strategy, which is in the function of the open government approach. A central e-portal is active and citizens, businesses and other interested parties can get hold of relevant information on public services or public administration. Most of the Laws adopted by the Kosovo Assembly are in line with EU legislation. Laws on declaration of assets and law on access to public documents are in place. Main challenge of Kosovo Institutions is proper implementation of adopted Laws.
During last two years, Kosovo Government has concentrated political focus in an intensive EU-facilitated dialogue with Serbian Government aiming to achieve technical and political agreements for the normalization of relations between two countries. Integration of the northern municipalities of Kosovo, populated mainly by K-Serbs, into the Kosovo legislative system isconsidered as one of the biggest challenges for the Government of Kosovo. This was an important step in order for the EU Commission (2013) to recommend the opening of negotiations for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SSA). As EU integration process criteria involve OGP related issues as well, membership in OGP will be another tool for Kosovo Government to strengthen institutions in terms of five areas tackled by OGP: increasing the quality of public services,public integrity, enhancing safety of communities and corporate accountability. These five OGP areas are analysed in terms of four OGP criteria: transparency, public integrity, citizen participation andinnovation or technology used by Kosovo Government to increase efficiency and accountability of the public bodies.
Several steps have been madefor the enhancement of transparency, public integrity and public participation.Web-sites of the relevant institutions and the government e-portal have been established and are used as main data transparency tools. Hence, further improvement is needed. There are no standardized procedures and published data depend on the discretion of officials in the relevant institutions. Full implementation of e-governance approach and increased transparency might facilitate access to information for citizens which in turn might increase the quality of public services and public administration. Open data on all recruiting processes, such as evaluations in the recruitment process, might create positive pressure in increasing quality of hired employees. Central and municipal institutions publish their approved budgets in their websites, although this might not be the case in all municipalities. Executive’s Budget Proposal is not made public prior to its approval. Audit reports of the public institutions are made public by the Office of Auditor General. Whereas, Anti-Corruption Agency publishes declared assets by public officials and elected politicians. Kosovo legislation is mostlyin line with the EU standards, but main problems rely in the implementation of adopted laws. Integrity of independent institutions is also faded due to political influence. Involvement of politically affiliated representatives, as board members or executive directors in the independent institutions, largely undermines credibility of these institutions. A similar problem is in the Publicly Owned Enterprises (POEs) where board members are generally related to political parties.
In order to increase quality of public services and public integrity of institutions, an open government approach with an extensive involvement of citizens in governance is essential. As an initial step, Kosovo Government in cooperation with CIVIKOS (Network of civil society organizations) have drafted a governmental strategy for cooperation between the government and civil society in Kosovo for the period 2013-2017 which aims to enhance process of consultations and cooperation. Hence, up to date involvement of citizens and civil society organizations is not satisfactory. To enable an easier approach and closer involvement of citizens, a digital feedback platform, which would be obligatory for all public institutions, would facilitate a wider consultative process, where every interested citizen would be able to provide feedback on issues of interest. Aforementioned and other related policy limitations and their implementation should be addressed in a future OGP action plan. A serious commitment to the open government standards might improve perception and trust of citizens towards institutions. Actually, opinion polling results undertaken by Riinvest (2013)[1] show that the Kosovo Government, the Kosovo President and Political Parties are least trusted institutions by the citizens. On the other hand, people of Kosovo seem to have more trust towards media, religious institutions and security related organizations such as Kosovo Police and KFOR.
I. OPEN GOVERNMENT
Approach to open government through OGP Initiative enables governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies for strengthening the governance. Using advantages of information technologies it would increase efficiency and accountability of the public bodies.[2] The focus on open data makes the OGP Initiative distinct from other programs.However, it is not only about transparency, because the institutional and procedural conditions of accountability are also integral parts of the Initiative (Peteri, 2013).[3]
OGP Initiative supports multi-stakeholder cooperation. It is overseen by a steering committee of governments and civil society organizations. For the membership in OGP Initiative, it is necessary that governments embrace high-level Open Government Approach which they need to state in a Letter of Intent or an Open Government Declaration, deliver a country action plan and commit to independent reporting in order to follow progress on the initially committed actions.
Kosovo Constitution in its basic principles supports open government standards.. Article 1 of the Kosovo Constitution states “the Republic of Kosovo is a state of its citizens”. The Republic of Kosovo exercises its authority based on the respect for human rights and freedoms of its citizens and all other individuals within its borders. Whereas article 2, states: “The sovereignty of the Republic of Kosovo stems from the people, belongs to the people and is exercised in compliance with the Constitution through elected representatives, referendum and other forms in compliance with the provisions of this Constitution”. From the article 2 of the Kosovo Constitution it can be inferred that Kosovo is determined to open and transparent government towards its citizens.
On 9th July, 2013, Kosovo Government decided to start the process of joining OGP Initiative, whereas on 19 of July was made the first step towards OGP Initiative membership through the Letter of Intent expressing interest of Government of the Republic of Kosovo to join the OGP Initiative sent to the OGP Secretariat by the Minister of European Integration. The decision to start the process of joining OGP initiative comes after a series of other political processes in which Kosovo Government has been engaged. In the last two years, it has been intensively involved in the EU-facilitated dialogue with Serbian Government. In this dialogue which started in March 2011 were reached several agreements, although their implementation is questionable. Agreements were reached on integrated border management, freedom of movement, representation of Kosovo in regional forums, protection of religious and cultural heritage sites, acceptance of university diplomas, civil registry and on customs stamps. The second round of dialogues was continued at the level of Prime Ministers. Kosovo and Serbian Prime Ministers agreed to start customs collection and to establish a fund for the development of northern Kosovo. Finally, the "First agreement of principles governing the normalisation of relations" was initialled by the two Prime Ministers on 19 April 2013. However, the Kosovo Government was criticized for lack of transparency in regard to the dialogue and specific agreements reached with the Serbian government.
Since, OGP covers a broad range of good governance areas support from civil society organizations during and after the OGP membership process is of crucial interest. The Kosovo OGP coordination body led by the representative of the MEI has reflected on these needs, and therefore civil society organizations will compose the majority of coordination body (or 51%) whereas 49% representatives will be from Public Institutions and Business Associations.[4] Yet, the process is at the initial stage.
a.Actions and Interventions
Kosovo Independence dates from 17 of February 2008. Following the Declaration of Independence, Kosovo pledged to implement the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement, drafted by U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari and the Constitution of Kosovo incorporated Ahtisari’s provisions. Kosovo Independence was initially supervised by the international community. International steering group of countries appointed an International Civilian Representative (ICR) to oversee Kosovo’s implementation of the plan. The ICR’s mandate and the supervision of Kosovo Independence ended in September 2012. The current EU Special Representative in Kosovo is Samuel Zbogar of Slovenia, who continues to provide advice to the Kosovo Government on the reforms needed to move closer to the future eventual EU membership.
The European Commission (2013) report on Kosovo highlights that Kosovo has delivered on a set of short-term priorities of previous year's feasibility study in the fields of rule of law, public administration, protection of minorities and trade. The Commission has recommended the opening of the negotiations for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement. Such an agreement is an important step for Kosovo on its path towards the EU: a key element of the enlargement process, it liberalises trade with the EU and establishes common political and economic goals. Stability and Association processmight facilitate strengthening of government capacities to fulfil OGP related criteria as well.
Membership on the OGP Initiative requires that countries fulfil at least 75% of the set Eligibility Criteria. There are four criteria’s set by the OGP.[5]
- Fiscal transparency - The timely publication of essential budget documents forms the basic building blocks of budget accountability and an open budget system.
Measurement: Two points awarded for publication of each of two essential documents (Executive’s Budget Proposal and Audit Report) for open budgets.
In case of Kosovo, Executive’s Budget Proposal is open for inputs and discussion only for the Kosovo Assembly Commission for Budget and the Kosovo Assembly which are entitled to revise it and approve final version. The Budget is published upon the approval but not as a Budget Proposal. In terms of the audit report, disaggregated audit reports on all institutions and spending agencies are made public by office of the auditor general, together with the annual audit report which includes audit opinion on the consolidated financial statements of the Budget of the Republic of Kosova.
In January 2013 the International Budget Partnership (IBP) released the Open Budget Survey 2012 (OBS), the only independent, comparative, and regular measure of budget transparency, participation, and accountability around the world. The OBS 2012 covered 100 countries, including 36 OGP member countries and future member countries that are developing their commitments.[6] As Kosovo is not part of the survey, its inclusion in the OBS would enable comparative assessment of fiscal transparency criteria.
- Access to Information – An access to information law that guarantees the public’s right to information and access to government data is essential to the spirit and practice of government.
The measurement used in this case: 4 points awarded to countries with access to information laws in place, 3 points if a country has a constitutional provision guaranteeing access to information, and 1 point if a country has a draft access to information law under consideration.
The Constitution of Kosovo provides for free speech, access to information and the plurality of media. Article 40 of the Constitution [Freedom of Expression] states: “Freedom of expression is guaranteed. Freedom of expression includes the right to express oneself, to disseminate and receive information, opinions and other messages without impediment.” It further states that the freedom of expression can be limited by law in cases when it is necessary to prevent encouragement or provocation of violence and hostility on grounds of race, nationality, ethnicity or religion. In addition, Kosovo Assembly has approved the Law No.03/L –215 which guarantees rights on access to public documents and it regulates right on access to information, respectively to public documents.
- Disclosures Related to Elected or Senior Public Officials - Rules that require public disclosure of income and assets for elected and senior public officials are essential to anti-corruption and open, accountable government.
Measurement:4 points awarded to countries with a law requiring disclosures for politicians and senior public officials to the public, 3 points awarded to countries with either a law requiring disclosures for politicians OR senior public officials to the public, and 2 points awarded for a law requiring non-public disclosures for elected or senior officials.
Kosovo LawNo. 04/L-050regulates the procedure on declaration and control of property, declaration of revenues and obligations of all senior public officials and of their family members and also regulates defined sanctions. Law on Declaration, Control and Origin of Property of Senior Public Officials determines accurately that any official in time to taking the senior public position must make a declaration of his property to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) within 30 days. But there have been cases where officials have violated the law in question. Consequently, the Agency has initiated minor offense proceedings against them. This Law regulates as well the procedure on declaration, control and origin of gifts received by all public officials. In Kosovo, senior public officials (including Assembly members, Presidency and the Government, among others) have the obligation to the property declaration throughout the public service and in terms defined by law, and they are under obligation to declare the status of their property to ACA, from 1 to 31 March of each year (ACA, 2013).
- Citizen Engagement
Open Government requires openness to citizen participation and engagement in policymaking and governance, including basic protections for civil liberties.
Measurement:Using the 2012 Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index’s Civil Liberties sub-indicator where 10 is the highest and 0 is the lowest score, 4 points for countries scoring above 7.5, 3 points for countries scoring above 5, 2 points for countries scoring above 2.5, and 0 points otherwise.
A comparable measurement of civil liberties in the case of Kosovo is more complex as Kosovo is not part of the EIU Democracy Index which is used in assessing civil liberties. Because the methodology of the EIU index is not public, comparative assessment of citizen engagement in Kosovo is not possible. Alternatively, according to civil society index (KCSF, 2011), citizen participation in public life is disappointingly low, with only 16.3% of Kosovar citizens active in socially based initiatives and organizations. However, considering that all regional countries scored above 7 in the EIU Democracy Index, and based on a self subjective assessment, it is expected that Kosovo would earn at least 3 points by scoring above 5 in the Civil Liberties sub-indicator.